Leading the green way IL Recycling

LEADING THE GREEN WAY

IL Recycling is a Swedish recycling company with operations in Sweden and Poland. It has been working to supply manufacturers in various industries with raw materials for 60 years. Marco Siebel talks to Markus Ocklind, the company’s head of Raw Material Sales & Trading, about its latest investments and expectations for the future.

IF you look back in time 60 years, most things were very different. In 1951, the western world was busy with the task of reconstruction after the Second World War. The old had to make way for the new. Resources seemed endless, so they threw everything away and manufactured new things.

They were happy to throw things away in nature – after all, the forests and lakes were so vast that they could easily hide a few rusty oil barrels, old tractor tyres and other scrap. New products were manufactured preferably using oil, which seemed to exist in inexhaustible volumes. Nowadays, awareness of scarce resources and the

consequences of environmental destruction looms large, and we view resources and the environment in an entirely different way.

Since its establishment, IL Recycling has grown into one of the world’s largest full-service recycling and waste management companies, handling virtually all kinds of materials.

Markus Ocklind says: “IL Recycling has four owners, all Sweden-based paper mills. They are Fiskeby Board, SCA, Smurfit Kappa and Stora Enso. We were originally created by our paper mill owners to provide them with recycled fibre – but for some recycled products, the best sales opportunities are to be found outside Sweden. In that case we make sure that we find suitable customers abroad and arrange transport. For example, we export high grade fibres to Germany, Italy and Spain.”

Expertise covering different fields

IL Recycling’s 700+ employees have expertise covering the entire recycling process, from analysis, collection and transport of residual products to sorting, processing and delivery of recycled raw materials to industry. IL Recycling provides the vessels and containers for sorting and recycling, and handles the transport from the collection points to the recycling plants. IL Recycling

also has the very latest technology in place, enabling it to offer the smartest solutions for efficient and above all profitable recycling.

More than just recycling

Another important activity for IL Recycling is trade in raw materials on both the Swedish and the international market. The raw materials it trades are recycled fibres, metals, scrap, plastic and others. IL Recycling is part of an international network of leading trading companies in the recycling sector, which enables it to reach customers all over the world.

Another field of activity is the confidential processing of sensitive or secret material such as paper documents or worn-out hard disks. This confidential service, operating under the name of Reisswolf, has the highest security level in the industry.

Financial results

The recycled paper market and the metals market were characterised by relatively high volatility, but when prices fell during the autumn of 2011 in dollar terms the effect in Swedish kronor was smaller owing to the strong dollar. The demand for recycled fibre from Swedish and foreign paper mills was good throughout 2011.

Markus Ocklind says: “During the year 2011 we saw good organic growth in most areas, but in particular in the scrap and metal business area, as well as in the one for various fuel fractions.”

Turnover for 2011 rose by 7 per cent from €225 million to €240 million and is expected to grow by at least the same percentage for the current year, 2012.

Growth in Poland

With 16 plants in Sweden and four in Poland, IL Recycling is the leading operator on the Swedish recycling market, and expects to become the leading operator on the Polish market. Its core activities in Poland are primarily paper and plastic, although other kinds of material are also processed via business partners.

Markus Ocklind continues: “At IL Recycling we believe that there are major possibilities of contributing to increasing recycling in Poland. IL Recycling Polska is striving to lead the way and to drive continued development, and sees good opportunities for growth in this dynamic market. Another field in which we expect growth is the energy sector, with energy plants. It is currently our fastest growing field, with an expected growth rate of 10 per cent for 2012.” Investments

During 2011, IL Recycling introduced the collection of biological waste for the production of biogas in large parts of Svealand, (southcentral Sweden) and opened a new scrap metal plant in northern Sweden.

The company also plans to replace three smaller plants south of the capital Stockholm by one single bigger plant, north of the city, by the end of 2013. n